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We’ve all read the declarations that tablets are dead. In reality, tablets—and smartphones for that matter—are just enjoying longer lifespans. Though shipments of tablets are down globally, the market remains considerably large and presents a consistent opportunity. According to Newzoo’s Global Mobile Device Intelligence report, in December of last year there were over 300 million tablet devices used across the world, with consumers in the United States, China, Russia, Mexico and the UK using the most tablets.

The slower upgrade cycle is good news for consumers, but what does it mean for developers? To remain competitive, mobile app and game developers must stay on top of tablet usage trends to ensure their apps and games are optimized for the most used devices, not just the newest releases. The traditional metric of “units shipped” is no longer an effective signal for active device usage.

Device specifications are massively important for your app development and setting realistic expectations. For instance, to make sure your app can run across more than 50 percent of the tablets used in the United States, you will need to develop an app suited for at least a HD (1280x720) resolution, a screen size of at least 7 inch, and devices that were launched no earlier than 2012.

Growth in gaming

Revenues from mobile games (smartphones and tablets combined) will grow from $36.9B in 2016 to $52.5B in 2019. How will tablets contribute to this growth? Last year, there were 708 million people gaming on tablet devices, spending a total of $9.8 billion on tablet games. Newzoo expects by 2020 there will be almost 800 million people spending $12.60 billion on mobile games.

Amazon Appstore

To get into the tablet market, you can submit your app to the Amazon Appstore, where your apps and games will be available in 236 countries and territories worldwide. 85 percent of Android apps require no additional engineering to work on our tablets, and there is no charge for creating an account and publishing on our app store.